Since November 3, 2021, Poland has been charged one million euros a day for failing to comply with the judgment of the Tribunal ordering the suspension of the application of the provisions relating to the powers of the then, questioned as an independent body of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court. On Friday, by decision of the vice-president of the Court, the fine is to be reduced to EUR 500,000.
In February 2020, Poland changed its rules on the organization of courts. Introduced, among others new disciplinary procedures for judges.
CJEU on the disciplinary procedure against judges
The European Commission decided that these provisions would infringe European Union law and brought a complaint against Poland to the Court of Justice. It was found, inter alia, that the new regulations do not allow courts in Poland to examine whether the amended provisions allow Polish courts to examine whether EU standards for an independent and impartial court are met by preventing judicial review of the legality of the appointment of judges.
On 10 March 2023, Poland applied to the Court to set aside or, in the alternative, to amend the order imposing the periodic penalty payment on it. In support of this request, Poland argued that, as a consequence of the legislative changes, it had fully complied with its obligations under the provisional measures.
In today’s order, the Vice-President of the Court has reduced the amount of the penalty payment to EUR 500,000 per day.
As reported CJEUpublication of the judgment in case C-204/21 Commission v Poland was set for June 5, 2023, at 14.30. Once the judgment is announced, the penalty will cease to be charged. The Brussels correspondent of TVN24 and TVN24 BiS emphasizes, however, that then the content of the new judgment of the CJEU will come into force.
The highest fine in the history of the European Union
Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek, the Minister for European Affairs, announced at the beginning of November last year that the Polish government had submitted a request to suspend the calculation of penalties for non-compliance with the decision of the EU court.
On Thursday, the European Commission announcedthat after examining the application, due to non-compliance with the interim measures, the decision to charge penalties was upheld. “Poland was informed about this last week in the reply sent by Commissioner Didier Reynders,” it was reported.
The findings of the TVN24 correspondent in Brussels, Maciej Sokołowski, show that the penalty imposed by the CJEU on Poland in the case of the Disciplinary Chamber wins both in the category of daily penalties and sums already charged. With a penalty of one million euros a day, we jumped this year Italy and a deduction of 360 million for the Disciplinary Chamber is already the greatest punishment in history.
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